~ Chapter Twelve ~
Dressed in casual clothes, Fureya packed a small duffel bag with a couple of changes of clothes and some weapons maintenance kits. Her finally made Naginata had been lost when she'd tumbled off the cliff in Trabia, leaving her with her short sword and daggers. The weapons mistress had kindly lent her one of the finer made katana's as a primary weapon until she replaced her lost Naginata.
She walked out of her dorm and practically ran into Macen as he went to knock on her door.
"Good timing." He said cheerfully and started for the entrance. Fureya stopped and glanced down the hall. "Go see him, I'll meet you at the front." Macen murmured softly, taking her duffel from her. Fureya offered him a small smile, pulling an envelope out of her pocket as she strode over to his dorm.
Knocking on the door, there was a drawn out pause before Willard answered the door. Obviously Fureya had woken him by the looks of his tousled hair and glazed eyes.
"Fureya." He said, instantly awake. Fureya offered him an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry to wake you Will." She whispered sincerely. "I just wanted to say goodbye before I left." Fureya held out the pink envelope towards him. "I wrote this for you last night. It sounds kind of silly, but when you miss me the most, read it then and only then. Maybe it might make things easier." Fureya blushed and looked away, feeling slightly foolish. Willard said nothing for a long moment before pulling Fureya into a tight embrace, hugging her tightly.
"Don't go off and get hurt okay, Reya?" Willard murmured, letting her go reluctantly and taking the letter.
"Same for yourself, Will." She laughed softly. Willard suddenly cupped her face in his hands and kissed her swiftly before letting her go.
"See you soon, Fureya." He promised firmly, looking her in the eye. Lost for words, Fureya nodded numbly and fled. Willard smiled distantly at her figure and shut the door, tucking the envelope into his half packed duffel bag.
~*~
"Trepe!" Shouted Keladryie as she bashed her fists loudly on his dorm door. "Let's go already you lazy piece of-" She was cut off as Willard opened the door and shoved her backwards.
"For crying out loud, you are one loud chit." He growled and strode out past her. Keladryie growled and stormed after him, muttering under her breath about the thing's she would do to him if they missed their train to Deling City, while a chuckling Garret just followed them lazily.
They did make it in time for the train, with a few minutes to spare. Willard had great pleasure in pointing that out to Keladryie who instantly told him to shut his mouth or she'd do it for him.
The train ride was pretty uneventful with Kella and Will only crossing verbal swords a handful of times.
As they had been told, Kaddar met them at Deling Station. Kaddar had been chosen to navigate around Deling City to make their task easier.
"Yo." He said when he spotted them. "I'm Kaddar, nice to meet ya'll." He drawled brightly. He flashed Keladryie a bright grin and shook hands with Willard.
"Shall we go now?" Keladryie said sulkily, coming to the conclusion she was surrounded by testosterone driven morons. Kaddar nodded and turned serious, surprising Kella slightly.
"Traces of magic that's unrelated to para-magic were found in an old warehouse on the north side. We are to go over there and check it out. As soon as the magic traces showed up on Odine's radar, they secured the building to wait for us. No one has come out or gone in at all." He spoke as he walked over to a car that had seen better days.
"Impressive car." Drawled Keladryie as she climbed into the front passengers seat. Kaddar flashed her a cheeky smile.
"If I had of known a pretty lady was coming, I would have stolen my fathers car." He teased lightly as he started the car. Keladryie sat there in silence as they drove, confused by the older Leonhart sibling.
At the warehouse, the group of four youths were instantly admitted. Arming themselves, they split into two groups to scour the area. Willard and Garret paired off and headed down the left side, leaving Keladryie with Kaddar.
"Well come on then." He said cheerfully and rested his gunblade on his shoulder. "Nice blade too." He commented before striding off, his brown eyes sharp as he searched the area. Silently, Keladryie followed him slightly disgruntled by him and his infectious smile.
The four met in a cleared space, drawn in by a soft green light that seemed to glow constantly.
Willard was especially drawn to it, subconsciously reached out to it. Almost instantly, the light faded and small green furred creature leaped onto his shoulder.
"Howdy." The bright little creature chirped, nuzzling Willard's neck gently.
"Oh gross." He growled and ripped the creature off of his shoulder and held it up. "What are you?"
"I'm Carbuncle, the imp of protection." He said cheerfully and rubbed his muzzle against Willard's hand. "You are my mortal form, meaning you are capable of holding my spirit within your body without suffering the side affects." He explained affectionately. "When our mother blasted us, she released our spirits from our bodies and formed us Guardian Forces. We had to wait for our physical bodies were reborn so we could end the Sorceress line. Without our bodies, we can harm Sorceresses and even kill them, but we can't stop the power from transferring. I've been waiting for you, Willard."
Willard stared at the green creature in disdain.
"Are you telling me that I am a reincarnate of a tiny little wimpy creature?" He said slowly. Carbuncle's eyes dimmed and he stopped trying to get back onto Willard's shoulder.
"I'm sorry." He said sincerely, his head drooping. Willard instantly felt bad and set the creature back on his shoulder.
"Sorry." He murmured. "I'm just surprised. That's all." Carbuncle instantly perked up and curled up affectionately around Willard's neck. "Are you saying there are more of us?" Willard wanted to know as he sighed. Carbuncle nodded.
"Diablos and Shiva have found their bodies in girls named Keladryie and Fureya." Carbuncle chirped and thrust his wet nose into Willard's ear who let out a loud yell.
"Carbuncle, leave the poor human alone." A heavy voice commanded. Will glanced over at Keladryie who had a tall winged demon standing next to her. "He's not used to your constant affections like Shiva is." Carbuncle made a soft barking noise that resembled a laugh and waved a paw at Diablos.
"My sister is one of these as well?" Kaddar asked softly, stepping forward to take a closer look at Diablos who glared at him with crimson eyes.
"Fureya Leonhart!" Chirped Carbuncle. "She has taken Shiva's body. Yup yup!" Silently, Willard ran a hand over Carbuncles fur while digesting this information.
"So what are we to do?" He murmured as Carbuncle emitted a soft purring noise.
"Find the remaining two humans and eradicate the sorceress." A hissing voice said from the shadows.
Slowly a glimmering blue-scaled serpent slithered forward.
"Leviathan!" Carbuncle cried out gleefully, his eyes bright with happiness.
Leviathan ignored him and curled around Garret's feet and stared up at him with huge unblinking eyes.
"You know the story." He hissed, drawing a nod from Garret.
"Dude. Even Garret has a more manly Spirit than I do." Complained Willard plaintively. Garret snorted as Carbuncle let out a soft whining noise and nuzzled Willard's neck. "Okay, Okay. I'm sorry!"
Diablos and Leviathan faded into the background after exchanging a glance, but Carbuncle remained brightly visible. Willard sighed inwardly and scratched the green creature behind one of his ears.
"Carbuncle like!" He squealed as one of his long furred feet slid off of Will's shoulders.
~*~
After radioing Odine and telling him the magic tracked was that of a Guardian Force, they were told to stay at Leonharts house and catch the early morning train to Galbadia Garden to meet up with Squall's squad.
"Okay. Sleeping space." Kaddar murmured as he idly scratched a shaggy grey dogs ear. "What do you reckon Angelo?" The old greyed dog looked up at him sullenly and gave a halfhearted yip. "Just as I thought. Keladryie you can have the spare room, Garret can have my room and I'll stay in my Dad's room." He gave Angelo one last scratch and stretched, they'd eaten on the way back home.
"Err, Kaddar?" Willard said curiously. "Where am I going to sleep?" Kaddar grinned and shrugged.
"Fureya's room. I'm assuming you would miss her by now, so as long as you don't go through her stuff, you are very welcome to sleep there." Keladryie stared at Kaddar for a moment, surprised by how sweet he was being. Even though it wasn't blatantly obvious, it was still there. Willard offered Kaddar a ghost of a smile as thanks and followed Kaddar's directions to Fureya's room.
Entering it, he looked around slowly at the slightly messy tomboyish room. Picking up one of the framed photographs, he noticed a picture of Squall and Rinoa dancing. They looked really happy in the photo. Moving on, he looked at a few others. Most of them were of Rinoa and Squall. Some of them had Kaddar in it. The one sitting directly on Fureya's beside table was a picture of Rinoa, Squall and a young Kaddar. Also cradled in Rinoa's slender arms was tiny baby wrapped in a pink rug.
Looking at it, he realized it was probably the closest thing to a family portrait Fureya had. Putting it down gently, he smiled and stifled a yawn.
"That was really nice of you." Keladryie murmured softly as Garret excused himself to go lay down. Kaddar grinned and shrugged as he sat down on the couch next to Keladryie and handed her a cold drink.
"Fureya never told me they were together, but it was kind of obvious." He commented and took a long draught of soda. Keladryie laughed and nodded.
"Trepe is like a fool in love." She commented. Kaddar looked at her closely and smiled at her. Keladryie felt her stomach contract and she looked away as she felt her cheeks warm up.
"I believe Trepe is a fool in love." He murmured coolly and reached over tucking some of her hair behind her ear.
"Stop that." Keladryie mumbled lamely, drawing a husky chuckle out of Kaddar. A warm hand caught Keladryie's chin and made her face him.
"You're a very pretty and smart girl." He murmured and kissed her briefly. When he pulled away, Keladryie stared at him and threw her drink at him before storming off outside, beet red in colour.
"I think she likes you." A dry voice came from the hallway. Kaddar turned and smiled lazily at Garret.
"I was hoping so. I've never met anyone like her."
Keladryie clenched her fist and punched the rough bark of a tree fiercely; again and again until her emotions had settled and she felt calmer.
It wasn't that she didn't like the kiss; it was nice. It was just she didn't want it or the feelings that bubbled up inside her.
Stupid Kaddar and his stupid kisses.
Keladryie sighed and leant against the tree as she winced. Her knuckles were split and bleeding and would probably bruise tomorrow.
"That's going to be painful tomorrow." Kaddar spoke up as Keladryie glared at her knuckles.
"What do you want?" She grumbled sulkily. Kaddar smiled at her and tossed her a little glass bottle.
"That's a potion in that bottle. If you pour it over your knuckles it will heal them." He stated cheerfully before he went back inside. Keladryie's expression softened as she cradled the cool bottle in her hands.
"Thanks." She whispered to the door he went through.